Excuses, Excuses

Since when do we need them?

This past Valentine’s Day, or for the majority of my co-workers, Single and Fabulous Day, I was talking to my boss about, well, what else, Valentine’s Day. He was surprised that I didn’t have a date (I did: He just lives 2 hours away from me) and I was surprised that he didn’t either. In fact, I was surprised to find out that almost every single one of my co-workers who were working that night didn’t have a date, or someone to call their date for Valentine’s Day.

But that wasn’t the point of our conversation. Personally ever since I was 18, or maybe it was 19, I lost interest in the concept of Valentine’s Day. Not because I spent last year’s Single and Fabulous Day working and then working out at my gym, ie spending it as I would any other day of the year; No, I’ve lost interest because it really is such a Hallmark Holiday – a buy-things-that-are-50%-more-expensive-than-usual-because-corporations-tell-you-too-day. And really – from my 22 year old perspective of life, I wouldn’t want my significant other treating me extra special on one day just because he feels he HAS to. I mean, doesn’t that defeat the purpose of love when an act of it is out of obligation?

However, and there is always a however, my boss brought up an excellent point. He mentioned that he didn’t date because he’s fallen into a rhythm of working, having a drink afterwards, going home and doing it all over again the next day. When one falls into such a pattern, he said, it’s nice to have an excuse to do something, to make the time to do something special for the person in your life; The person that takes away the monotony of the wake up-work-come home-sleep cycle that we all somehow seem to fall into no matter how hard we try not to.

As soon as those words passed his lips to my ears I got to thinking about my own hectic schedule and the rhythms I’ve fallen in to, whether I had meant to or not. I mean, I go to my internship – I go to my classes – I go to work – I go to the gym – I go home. And then it starts all over again. With the exception of after-work drinks and gym dates, I too have to make excuses to see my friends… That is, if I can manage to fit them into my pink day planner.

I can’t help but wonder if this is the future of adult-living: The need for calendar-set-days or occasions to see your girlfriends or have a date night with your significant other. I mean, it just seems odd to me that in this age of being able, if not celebrated for doing whatever we want whenever we want, do we really need an excuse to do something with the ones we love?

I guess the pre-commercialism of days like Valentine’s (or Single and Fabulous’) were meant for just that: An excuse to be extra special, extra attentive, and extra loving to those in our lives who save us from the cycles we find ourselves in, especially when you all find yourselves going in opposite directions. It is true how we often forget, or at least put on the backburner, those in our lives who bring in the sunshine through the rain.

I just wish that on those special days it didn’t cost me my first born child to send a basket of cookies. Oh well, c’est la vie.